Alexis turned to Jason for strength as she faced death. 

Yet another pleading war of words with Jason left the cancer-stricken Alexis frustrated and short of breath.  When she caught her wind, she clutched a photo of her daughters and admitted she was afraid of dying. Saying out loud that she was scared was huge for Alexis, but asking for help from anyone, let alone Jason, was monumental.  "I don't know how to accept the fact that my time may be running out and how to best allocate the time that I may have left. I don't know how to do this, how to say good=bye to my children, or prepare them for my loss. "I'm terrified."  She remembered how Jason confronted his own mortality the year before and wondered how he found peace. She didn't want to spend the time she had left being so scared. At first, Jason was at a loss for words. Then he looked into her eyes and saw that this usually strong, fearless woman was trembling inside. He explained that what scared him was leaving the people who loved him. "But the actual dying" Alexis piped in quickly. "The physical process of your body just shutting down, of closing your eyes and not waking up again, saying good-bye to the people that you love or looking at them, knowing that you're never going to see their face again...didn't that terrify you?"

He could hear in her voice that she needed to know what it would take for her to fight for her life. "When the fear gets so bad," he reasoned, "you need to think about the people who need you here."  Those words resonated within Alexis's core, and a calm came over her face. Of all people to draw into her intimate, deepest fears, Alexis had opened up to Jason. Although usually on different sides of the same issue, they connected in the most profound personal way. The ice melted to reveal that they're more alike than they'd ever admit.